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The Borough Assembly passed Ordinance #2021-20 during Wednesday's meeting which amended the previous emergency masking ordinance brought about by the increase of COVID-19 cases in Petersburg. The language of the new ordinance was heavily changed during its discussion so that it would not require businesses to deny admittance to offenders of the ordinance and would not introduce a fine structure for violators. The new ordinance only added a requirement for masking in communal spaces such as...
Veterans drove by the schools Thursday morning as part of the Veterans Day Parade while students and staff waved flags and cheered them on. Cars lined up on North 5th Street as students assembled in front of the school with red, white, and blue signs thanking veterans for their service. The Mitkof Middle School band first welcomed the veterans along the parade route, performing marching tunes as the cars turned onto Dolphin Street. Students from Stedman Elementary lined the street holding flags...
Stedman Elementary School and Mitkof Middle school transitioned to remote learning this week due to the rise in COVID-19 cases according to Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. The elementary school started online instruction on Tuesday while the middle school moved online on Thursday. Kludt-Painter wrote in her announcement that the district is experiencing multiple staffing issues as Petersburg continues to see high community spread. Contact tracing efforts within the district are also being...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported 21 additional cases of COVID-19 Wednesday for a total of 84 active cases. 19 cases were cleared by Public Health and 65 new cases have been reported in the past week. Currently Petersburg Borough has the highest per capita rate of COVID-19 in the United States of America, with an averaged daily rate of 262 new infections per 100,000. This is according to the New York Times hot spots map, which displays a county-by-county average of new reported cases over...
November 18, 1921 There’s been an almost unbelievable rapid growth of the fox fur farming business in Southeastern Alaska since the first permit was issued to Jim York of Juneau in 1914. Petersburg is the center and principal headquarters of this business and there is more Petersburg money invested than from any other town. Sixty three permits have been issued for farms on islands in the Tongass Forest and of this number twenty five, or nearly half are held by Petersburg men or concerns. Each farm represents an outlay of several thousand d...
On the mask mandate To The Editor: I wanted to take a minute to share my thoughts on the proposed emergency mask mandate. I believe at this point, two years into this pandemic, that we are doing more harm than good by trying to universally mandate the public’s actions. I believe that no one intentionally is trying to infect others with Covid and beyond that we are all capable of making decisions to protect ourselves and our families if we are feeling vulnerable. Taking away personal choice, and creating situations that promote division and d...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly’s attempt to abate a public health crisis in Petersburg Wednesday night went nowhere. Creating an ordinance to bring the rule of law into play failed. With no enforcement there will be little change. Possibly, but unlikely, the discussion carried out at Wednesday night’s meeting could change some minds, but it’s doubtful. Given the comments voiced by a majority of the speakers Wednesday night, no amount of peer reviewed science or proven medical knowledge is going to change the minds of those who choose to ignor...
There has been a concentrated effort the past few years to develop a long-term solution to the many problems of our ferry system. The effort has been led by the Alaska Department of Transportation. The department has hired several consulting firms over the years including the Spaulding Group, McDowell Group, Northern Economics and the governor’s “reshaping work group,” at a cost to the state of several hundred thousand dollars. These reports have done a good job identifying problems, yet very few of their proposed solutions have been acted...
November 9 — Law enforcement assisted EMS with a person with a breathing problem near Lake St. November 10 — A structure fire was reported near Unimak St. The USCG notified of reported flares near Scow Bay Loop. Officers responded to vehicles parked in an unauthorized zone near the Airport Access Rd. which was non-criminal. A citizen reported observing an individual in their shed during the late evening near N. 1st St. The individual immediately fled the area. A motorist was warned for basic speed on Haugen Dr. November 11 — A possible aband...
Nov. 2 – Elizabeth Grace Thomas entered a not guilty plea to charges of taking a sublegal bull moose. Trial was set for Dec. 7. Brayden Irons Hisaw entered a no contest plea to a charge of taking a sublegal bull moose. The court sentenced the defendant to a $300 fine, $20 surcharge and the moose forfeited to the State. John Hunter Plett entered a no contest plea to a charge of taking a sublegal bull moose. The court sentenced the defendant to a $300 fine, $20 surcharge and the moose forfeited to the State. Kevin Allen Aceveda entered a no c...
A car rolled into a ditch near 10 mile Mitkof Highway at around 8 a.m. Monday due to ice on the road according to Assistant Fire Chief David Berg. The Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department, EMS, and Petersburg Police Department were paged out to the accident and found the occupants of the vehicle, a young woman and her dog, uninjured. According to Berg, the vehicle was stopped waiting for traffic before turning onto Mitkof Highway near the Falls Creek fish ladder when it began to slide on the...
COVID-19 cases continue to rise, impacting the Petersburg Medical Center's staff and operations as the hospital approaches its breaking point. As cases go up, work effort and stress levels among hospital staff increase as they battle the virus. "...this spike ... is impacting practically every component of the community, and there's one, two, and three degrees of separation with each other, so it affects our staff, daycare, kids," PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter said. When a staff member is affected by...
The Petersburg School Board met virtually for its regular meeting on November 9 where members listened to a presentation on the audit for the year ending June 30, 2021. Bikky Shrestha from BDO USA, LLP presented a summary of the company’s findings to the board including the financial data from FY21. According to Shrestha, BDO conducted the entire audit remotely and Shrestha was the only person who was able to come to Petersburg. Apart from a couple of issues on the financial statements, Shrestha said, “the majority of the audit went really smo...
The Clausen Museum is displaying the profiles of six Alaska Natives to mark November as Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month. Clausen Museum Director Cindi Lagoudakis said the profiles she chose to write were of people who had some connection to Southeast Alaska and may not be well known. "We tell a lot of stories about Amy Hallingstad and Elizabeth Peratrovich, and not to take away from their importance in Alaska Native Heritage and history, but there are other people that have...
The Petersburg Indian Association has started a new program to help tribal households whose subsistence harvests have been impacted by COVID-19. According to Tribal Administrator Tracy Welch, the subsistence impact program was made possible through funding from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 which she said was a follow up to the Cares Act passed by the federal government in 2020. Through the act, Congress designated $30 million for federally recognized tribes in coastal or Great...
The Alaska Redistricting Board adopted its final proclamation of redistricting November 10, marking the boundaries that will be used for house districts and senate pairings for the next decade. New districts are drawn every 10 years based on data collected from the U.S. Census. This year the state was divided into 40 districts, each with an approximate population of 18,355 people. The new districts were also required to be compact, contiguous, and socioeconomically integrated according to the...
A small audience gathered Sunday afternoon, socially distanced in the pews of Petersburg Lutheran Church, to experience the music of concert pianist Roman Rudnytsky. Audience member Susan Erickson gave the concert rave reviews. "It was joy ... rapture ... an awesome 90 minutes of piano," said Erickson. "He is a maestro ... and we are so fortunate in Petersburg that someone of that caliber came to our community." Roman Rudnytsky has spent a lifetime mastering the piano. His parents were...
WRANGELL — The 58-year-old state ferry Matanuska will spend an additional two weeks in a Ketchikan shipyard so that workers can repair and replace corroded steel discovered below deck. The Kennicott will help cover Southeast during the vessel’s absence. The Matanuska is expected to resume its scheduled service on Dec. 20, running from Ketchikan to Bellingham, Washington, to pick up its generally weekly runs from Puget Sound through Southeast Alaska, said Sam Dapcevich, spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation. “During routi...
The Petersburg High School wrestling team traveled to Ketchikan last weekend for the Bill Weiss tournament which had students compete in a round robin followed by a tournament. The tournament was the largest in Southeast Alaska behind the regional championships according to Head Coach James Valentine, who said it was the best opportunity for his students to see their competition in the region. “We were able to bring a majority of the team, a couple kids are out right now, but we were able to bring the majority of the team,” Valentine said. The...
The Petersburg High School Volleyball team has not had it easy this season, but the students are still persevering and preparing for their biggest tournament of the season so far. The team had to cancel its home and away matches last week against Wrangell High School after COVID-19 cases continued to rise in both communities according to Head Coach Jaime Cabral. “With Wrangell’s cases popping up and our cases still pretty high, we didn’t want to risk regions that is coming up this week,” Cabral said. Earlier in the season the North Seeding...
WRANGELL —The port and harbors department is Marie Kondo-ing the boatyard. But when tossing out what doesn’t bring joy consists of 10 derelict vessels that include steel, wood and fiberglass boats, the scrapping is a multi-step process. The Island Belle, Bonnie Jean, Tres Suertes and Parakeet have been through a vetting process that consists of trying to find the original owner to claim the vessel, followed by a borough auction. No one claimed the vessels. The Parakeet is already gone. It’s an old seiner that Juneau-based Channel Const...
You may have seen these anchors around town without knowing exactly what they were used for. In 1880, the salmon canning industry expanded their floating fish traps to Southeast Alaska, though indigenous stationary traps had been in use long before that time. Strong tidal currents and rocky, deep locations required good anchors to hold floating traps in place, as well as a watchman to keep an eye on the trap 24 hours a day. Floating fish traps were controversial because of their efficiency and...
Ben (Claud Benjamin) Bishop, as of November 9, 2021, now rests in peace. He was born in Kelso, Washington on December 20, 1939. He served in the Army from 1958-1962 spending time in France and Alaska (which he fell in love with.) After the Army, he met Geneva, the love of his life, and began his career as a fish culturist in Oregon until he got the opportunity to return to Alaska in 1974. He worked for and retired from Crystal Lake Fish Hatchery in Petersburg. Everyone who met this... Full story
